JAVS Summer 1989

25

committee, brought to the congress. Eric Chapman is also noted for the role he.. played in organizing an excellent exhibit of violas and bows by contemporary makers. The standard of performance was consistently high throughout the congress. Violists Csaba Erdelyi, Bernard Zaslav Rosemary Glyde, Martha Strong in Katz, Roberto Diaz, Lucille Taylor, Paul Coletti, Clyn Barrus, Gunter Ojstersek, John Acevedo, Pamela Goldsmith Victoria Miskolczy, and the Los Angel~s viola ensemble gave a rich offering of varied repertoire enhanced through excellent collaborators on instruments ranging from cello to drums to accordion. Noteworthy was the outstanding collaborative work given soloists by their pianist. Participants made their appreciation known to the fine Redlands Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jon Robertson. A viola congress usually serves as a forum for new works, and the several premiers given helped satisfy this tradition. All concerts took place in the lovely University Memorial Chapel. Stimulating lectures were given by Pamela Goldsmith, Hans Weisshaar, Alan de Veritch, the Australian Simon Oswell, David Schwartz, and John Kun, bowmaker. The teaching approach of Karen Tuttle, Bernard Zaslav, Alan de Veritch, and Csaba Erdelyi was presented in a convincing manner in master classes. Many of the participants reveled in the grand finale performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.6 directed by Thomas Tatton. The second Primrose Memorial Scholarship Competition took on lustre through performances of Daniel Fos~er (first prize), a student of Jeffrey Irvine at the Oberlin Conservatory; Ming Pak (second Prize), also a student of Irvine;.. and Kai Tang (third prize) from HaWaII. Members of the AVS executive board acted as judges. At the AVS general membership meeting, Dwight Pounds delighted viewers with his visual and sound documentary on the history of North American viola congresses. Numerous important matters were taken up by the AVS officers and board in three separate

From the Presidency

REDLANDS RETROSPECTIVE

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The congeniality manifested among the participants at the XVII International Viola Congress at the University of Redlands, so typical of our annual gatherings in North America and Europe, did not escape the attention of one of our guests. Henri Temianka, . violinist conductor, and author, and this year's r~cipient of the American String Teachers' Distinguished Service Award, delighted us as the dinner speaker at our closing banquet. He remarked to me that he had attended during his lifetime his share of similar meetings of musicians, and that he had seldom been among such an affable group. I thanked him and said to the founder of the Paganini Quartet, "Well, Henri, if violist's weren't so congenial, they would have to take up one of the other positions in the quartet!" After all, Harry Ellis Dickson in his book Gentlemen, More Dolce Please wrote that violists were the least troublesome among the sections of the orchestra. Artur Nikisch remarked that violists were calm and good-natured. As I presided over the last congress of my tenure as president of the American Viola Society, I did have to reflect on Mr. Temianka's observation and once more recall that this, like all the other congresses I have attended, was a very convivial affair, and that violists tend to be lovely people and congenial colleagues. For this I am most grateful. Music U niversi ty of Redlands and his very able executive assistant, Kristi Wilkerson, and Lucille Taylor, adjunct professor of viola for major contributions to the hosting and planning of the congress. Especially am I appreciative of the significant time and effort which Louis Kievman and Donald McInnes the AVS appointed liaison member; to the program planning We are in the debt of Phillip J. Swanson Director of the School of